December

This month has been packed!  We have had such a wonderful time getting together with family and celebrating the holidays.  I feel so blessed beyond words to have these people in my life.  Here are a few highlights from the past few weeks: (a bit long...we had a lot goin on!)

1. My brother is ENGAGED!!  To the most wonderful girl, Brooke is such a perfect addition to the family!  He planned a surprise engagement party down in Santa Monica where we got to meet all of Brooke's sweet family and celebrate their engagement.  Aren't they just the cutest??

2. We've been having so much fun watching the 49ers dominate this season!!  Katelyn loves her new jersey and helping Daddy cheer for our team!

3. Every December there is a Holiday Lights exhibit out at the (very tiny) local zoo here in Bako (CALM). We bundled the kids up and enjoyed the festivities with Grammie and Grampa.

Katelyn just can't get enough of Carousels.  We had to wait in line twice because she had so much fun the first time!

4. Christmas Eve was a blast with the family.  We all went to church, then came back to our house for food and games.  

Ready for Christmas Eve Service!

Auntie Shell and Uncle Zach got a new puppy, Crosby!  Definitely Katelyn's highlight for the weekend!

Awwwwwww

I love my family.

"My Auntie knows Santa"

New Years Eve PJs!

The lovebirds celebrating with a bottle of Dom Perignon..woohoo!  Can you see that gorgeous rock on her finger?

5. Christmas Day!  We were so busy video taping Katelyn waking up to her presents Christmas morning that we didn't take any pics.  She had fun opening her gifts, but like birthday parties, still a bit overwhelming for her.  She got a lot of great stuff, thanks family!

We headed over to Grammie and Grampa's house for more Christmas day fun!

All ready to cook Christmas dinner!

Mom and Dad have almost finished the new backyard, complete with a fire pit!  We had such a great time sitting around the fire hanging out, and of course roasting some marshmallows (Kate's first at this!)

 The girls had fun making a mini Christmas scrapbook to keep for the holidays.

While the boys played Craps

Even Luke got to have some fun!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Picasa fun!

I've been playing around with Picasa lately, just figured out how to make these fun collages!

Buds

It just gets more and more fun to watch Katelyn and Luke interact.  Since Luke came home (after the first few weeks of getting over some jealousy) Katelyn has loved helping me with anything to do with her little brother.  She loves getting the diapers, putting on the desitin (he'll love hearing that later!), throwing dirty diapers in the trash, feeding him a bottle, giving him his paci (this is a favorite), even letting mommy know when the baby is hungry (whenever he cries she says "Mommy, baby wants milk").  Now, as Luke is becoming more animated and interested in things around him, Katelyn is increasingly interested in playing with him.

We keep a box of "baby toys" in the living room for Luke.  Katelyn loves to take them out one-by-one and give them to him, explaining (at least thats what it looks like she is doing!) them to her brother.  Its so cute because she just talks and talks and talks to him (much of it in her crazy Katelyn language), and even acts like he is responding to her.  She'll ask him a question and then say, "okay baby".

After she has gone through the whole box of toys, this is often what Luke ends up with!

She loves helping give Luke a bath!

Sometimes when I come in to get her after her nap I have Luke with me and so I'll put Luke in her crib with her, she just loooves that!  She thinks its so fun that he is in her bed.  However, if I take her out first, she makes sure Luke does not get to stay there...she gets a bit possessive of her bed!

Helping Luke in his jumper.

Watching The Grinch together.

I just love watching them together.  Luke just looks at her with such interest, there are times when he is in a fussy mood and she just starts talking to him and he becomes so happy.  She is even protective of him now.  The other day we were at the doctor's office and a little boy came up to look at Luke.  He wanted to touch his face and Katelyn immediately got between them and just glared at the little boy (although I was telling her to share and be nice, i was just laughing inside!).  They are so precious, I hope they just become closer and closer as they grow.

Thanksgiving

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving down in Oceanside.  We stayed at Mark and Kiki's house at camp Pendelton.  It was fun seeing the girls (Emily, Charlie, and Katelyn) all have so much fun playing together.

Kate and Emily taking a walk to the park right behind their house.

Uncle Mark fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving, yum!

Katelyn had fun playing with the rice table.

But Steve's favorite was the playhouse!

The rocking horses were a hit!

Emmy and Kate had their very own Thanksgiving feast together!

Hangin out with the girls (and boy!)

Matching PJs from Nana! (Luke had some too!)

 On Friday we headed off to Legoland.  It was a lot of fun but most of the rides were too old for the girls.  Still, they got to ride a few good ones and had lots of fun checking out all the lego cities.

The helicopters

 The airplanes (this was her favorite!)

The super huge play structure

Taking a break

The best way to take a 2 yr old to see New York! (and it's all made of legos)

The Star Wars mini-cities

Kate and Nana

 She didn't even make it back to the car, sooo exhausted!

The boys were pooped also!

On Saturday we went down to San Diego to visit Michelle and Zach (and Grammie who was down there for Thanksgiving).  It was so fun to hang out with them as a married couple!

Having a snack at Seaport Village

Mommy and Kate

Luke and Uncle Zach are buds!